Scrambling the Electricity Omelet

More than half of American electric customers are pondering whether they should dive into their bank accounts, take out loans and do whatever it takes to become self-sufficient utilities unto themselves.

More precisely, the share of would-be home energy entrepreneurs stands at 57 percent, according to new research just released by Accenture.

Even more - 61 percent - believe that consumers generating their own power should have markets to sell what they don't need.

On the utility side of the fence, there is growing conviction that century-old business models must change to accommodate this dramatic, looming transformation of their long passive customer base into active prosumers. Two-thirds of utility executives think their companies must evolve to become integrators of distributed generation resources and facilitators of the new emerging market.

The results are in a report, "Power Surge Ahead," based on interviews of 100 utility executives in 23 countries completed in January and other research.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The new energy customers of tomorrow, and the evolving utility business model, will be front and center at the Empowering Customers & Cities III executive energy conference in Chicago November 7-8.